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Nashua-Plainfield girl places 4th in National History Day contest

Nashua-Plainfield High School student Morgan Kapping stands with her exhibit at the Smithsonian Museum of American History during National History Day contest week in and around Washington, D.C. Photos courtesy of Suzy Turner
Nashua-Plainfield High School student Morgan Kapping stands with her exhibit at the Smithsonian Museum of American History during National History Day contest week in and around Washington, D.C. Photos courtesy of Suzy Turner
Drew Moine, Levi Williamson, Tyler Anderson and Tyler Lantz — pose for a picture at National History Day.
Drew Moine, Levi Williamson, Tyler Anderson and Tyler Lantz — pose for a picture at National History Day.
By Bob Fenske, Of the New Hampton Tribune and Nashua Reporter

Just making it to the National History Day contest was cool for Morgan Kapping, as was a chance to display at the Smithsonian Museum of American History.

And finishing fourth in the nation, well, that was positively stunning for the Nashua-Plainfield senior to be.

But the best part of last week for Kapping and her fellow Nashua-Plainfield history team students was the chance to be with so many people.

“Oh my goodness,” Kapping said. “There were more than 3,000 kids at this, and they’re from all over the country and the world for that matter. How cool is that?”

Not that the rest of the National History Day competition wasn’t cool, too. Kapping’s individual exhibit, “Tinker v. Des Moines: Taking a Stand with an Armband” not only made the finals but finished fourth overall in a division that had more than 110 entries.

“It’s an amazing accomplishment,” said Nashua-Plainfield History Day advisor Suzy Turner. “Just to make it to the finals, you have to be the best among your 11 exhibits (in the preliminaries) and it’s nationals, so there are good — very good — exhibits there.”

And Turner was just as proud of her other two groups’ entries — a website produced by Caleb Lines and Jayne Levi and a group documentary produced by Drew Moine, Tyler Lantz, Tyler Anderson and Levi Williamson.

They all were part of the competition that ran June 4-8 on the campus of the University of Maryland in suburban Washington, D.C.

“I understand that they were disappointed that they didn’t make the finals, and I get that,” she said. “You don’t put 300-plus hours into something and not want it to go as far as it can. But — and this is a really important but — they have nothing to hang their heads about. They put their hearts and souls into their projects, and I’m just as proud of them as I am of Morgan.”

For Kapping, it was a whirlwind week. She first had to fret over her exhibit, which was being transported by her mother, Mandie, and Justin Eiffler, who drove it out to Washington.

“If we had to ship it, it would have cost big money and who knows how it would have come,” she said. “When they got it there — in one piece — that was probably the happiest I’ve been in a while.”

All the NP entries competed on Tuesday, but Kapping had no idea if she made the finals until Thursday’s awards ceremony.

In between, her project, about a group of Des Moines students who successfully fought their suspension over protesting the Vietnam War, was displayed at the Smithsonian.

“That was neat because I met so many different people,” Kapping said. “There were tourists, other History Day people, museum employees — they all wanted to talk about it.”

And then Thursday came. At National History Day, the top-three medalists are announced and then the rest of the finalists are listed in no particular order. Turner, though, soon found out from the Iowa History Day coordinator that Kapping had finished fourth, which was confirmed when the student picked up her packet from the judges.

And as competitive as Kapping is, she can live with fourth this one time.

“I was so excited,” she said. “It felt good that all the hard work paid off. Just to make it to nationals was a dream, but then to have placed, that was insane.

“I’m just a small-town girl from Nashua,” she said. “To finish fourth in the country, I’m still trying to believe it.”

And the good news for Turner is that, except for the graduated Lantz, all of this year’s national competitors will return next year.

“I’m already brainstorming projects,” Kapping said. “I’m excited, but whatever happens next year, no one can take last week away from me.”

 

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